Report: Rift Deepens Between Marissa Mayer, Yahoo Board

Marissa Mayer

The rift between Marissa Mayer and the Yahoo board is widening — and the bankers are taking sides, too.

Mayer — the Web portal’s embattled 40-year-old chief executive — is turning to Silicon Valley dealmaker Frank Quattrone for advice as she resists mounting investor pressure to sell Yahoo’s core businesses, sources told The NY Post.

Meanwhile, Mayer’s six fellow directors on the shrinking Yahoo board are consulting with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Evercore Partners as they start to lean toward a possible sale, sources said on Thursday.

Frank Quattrone 

Mayer effectively tapped Quattrone as a “personal” adviser last month as her relationship with the rest of the board became more strained, according to a source briefed on the situation.

Quattrone — who in January stepped down as CEO of Qatalyst Partners, the San Francisco investment bank he founded eight years ago — is “advising [Mayer] on all matters, including what to do with Yahoo,” according to the source.

Earlier this month, Yahoo said it will lay off 15 percent of its workforce, or about 1,500 employees. That total is too small to please Starboard and other cage-rattling funds such as SpringOwl, which has called for firing all but 3,000 of Yahoo’s 10,000-plus workers.